Goodbye Ubc - Forever

[ChiangMaiThai]

There have been some threads about this before, but I am so impressed with my own experience that I thought I would post here. I finally canceled UBC last year. So tired of all the repeats and old movies on the Asian version of HBO. Anyway, I finally got set up with Slingbox. (Read more at slingbox.com)

I have 200 channels from the US based DirecTV which I watch on my TV, not my computer.

It is all live. I have a desktop connected to my TV. I change channels with a wireless mouse. I can record a hundred hours of TV and even pause live TV. When I want to watch TV, I just double click the slingbox icon on my desktop. 90% of the time the quality looks exactly the same as UBC's signal. 10% of the time it looks like a recorded VHS tape. Every hour or so it will freeze for a milisecond, but hardy a problem.

I didn't want to buy a slingbox myself and have my family set it up and then put a drain on their Internet. So I found a guy in New York who runs a slingbox service. I pay about 4000 Baht a month. This includes a special proxy service which doubles the slingbox speed which is essential. (I tested with and without the proxy).

My Internet connection is TT&T Premier 4mb 1:10 which I pay 3,000 Baht a month for. A quality internet connection is vital for this to work.

It took about 5 minutes to set up and I can say without a doubt, I will never ever go back to UBC again. I have all the football from UK plus all the Americaqn sports and new, uncensored movies and latest shows. The only problem is the annoying American commercials, which I mute with my mouse!

If you would like me to put you in touch with the guy in NY who can set up a free test for you, send me a PM.

[raro]

Did I get this right? 4,000 for the service in New York and 3,000 for the internet connection?

That is 7,000 a month, right?

I live now 16 years without any TV and happy to hear how much money I can save

[ChiangMaiThai]

Did I get this right? 4,000 for the service in New York and 3,000 for the internet connection?

That is 7,000 a month, right?

I live now 16 years without any TV and happy to hear how much money I can save

Well I spend 3,000 on the Internet regardless of this service. Most people are spending at least 2,000 a month for crappy UBC service. So for some people the news that you can have real TV for an extra 2,000 Baht a month is good news. Of course if you're not into TV, then this thread won't excite you very much. Anyway, as quality internet connections spread, I really do think that this will either force UBC to change or it will be the death of them. I'm sure within a year or two, the service that I described will be available with a TV remote and it will be identical to the UBC in every way apart from the fact that there will be shows worth watching...

Edited May 17, 2009 by ChiangMaiThai

[bungy007]

Did I get this right? 4,000 for the service in New York and 3,000 for the internet connection?

That is 7,000 a month, right?

I live now 16 years without any TV and happy to hear how much money I can save

I too went many years without tv and missed it at times when I wanted to veg but easily replaced it with good books. still, I have the best of both worlds as we have local cabel with most of what I need - BBC, CNN, ABC, films, sports for 300bt per month. I did have the platinum UBC package but was very happy to give it up when I moved to the Eastern Seaboard - constant repeats, totally sanatised films, anomolies in advertised sports screenings. UBC = a costly load of crap

[ignis]

So I found a guy in New York who runs a slingbox service. I pay about 4000 Baht a month.

OK if you like US TV. Myself if I went this route would have TV from UK at 1/2 that price, lots of Slingbox Service in the UK....

Google: slingbox service uk

[ChiangMaiThai]

So I found a guy in New York who runs a slingbox service. I pay about 4000 Baht a month.

OK if you like US TV. Myself if I went this route would have TV from UK at 1/2 that price, lots of Slingbox Service in the UK....

Google: slingbox service uk

Yes, you should choose the country that you are most interested in. US TV has all the movies and sports and discovery, national geo etc. Whatever route you go, the proxy to speed it up can increase quality dramatically over a direct connection - doubles my streaming speed.

[raro]

Don't want to piss on your parade, guys, but wasn't there something about using proxies in Thailand?

[greenwood01]

There have been some threads about this before, but I am so impressed with my own experience that I thought I would post here. I finally canceled UBC last year. So tired of all the repeats and old movies on the Asian version of HBO. Anyway, I finally got set up with Slingbox. (Read more at slingbox.com)

I have 200 channels from the US based DirecTV which I watch on my TV, not my computer.

It is all live. I have a desktop connected to my TV. I change channels with a wireless mouse. I can record a hundred hours of TV and even pause live TV. When I want to watch TV, I just double click the slingbox icon on my desktop. 90% of the time the quality looks exactly the same as UBC's signal. 10% of the time it looks like a recorded VHS tape. Every hour or so it will freeze for a milisecond, but hardy a problem.

I didn't want to buy a slingbox myself and have my family set it up and then put a drain on their Internet. So I found a guy in New York who runs a slingbox service. I pay about 4000 Baht a month. This includes a special proxy service which doubles the slingbox speed which is essential. (I tested with and without the proxy).

My Internet connection is TT&T Premier 4mb 1:10 which I pay 3,000 Baht a month for. A quality internet connection is vital for this to work.

It took about 5 minutes to set up and I can say without a doubt, I will never ever go back to UBC again. I have all the football from UK plus all the Americaqn sports and new, uncensored movies and latest shows. The only problem is the annoying American commercials, which I mute with my mouse!

If you would like me to put you in touch with the guy in NY who can set up a free test for you, send me a PM.

Can you PM me his info?

I will definitely buy his service when my house is finished in december.

[namoo]

using proxies in Thailand

Tend not to work reliably speedwise for most tv services such as bbc iplayer, hulu, joost and netflix.

However having said that a decent VPN provider combined with a decent interner provider works well for the above and much better than a proxy such as witopia.net or StrongVPN.com.

Witopia gives you a US IP and UK IP. However not sure it will work with one of the mainstream net providers in Thailand such as True,TOT,Maxnet etc. however on CSLOXINFO SME packages it works well.

Its cheaper than the OP original setup and Hulu and BBC iplayer is free. $60.00 a year for witopia VPN.

Edited May 17, 2009 by namoo

[ChiangMaiThai]

using proxies in Thailand

Tend not to work reliably speedwise for most tv services such as bbc iplayer, hulu, joost and netflix.

However having said that a decent VPN provider combined with a decent interner provider works well for the above and much better than a proxy such as witopia.net or StrongVPN.com.

Witopia gives you a US IP and UK IP. However not sure it will work with one of the mainstream net providers in Thailand such as True,TOT,Maxnet etc. however on CSLOXINFO SME packages it works well.

Its cheaper than the OP original setup and Hulu and BBC iplayer is free. $60.00 a year for witopia VPN.

Tried Hulu the other day with a proxy and it turned me away for using a public proxy server. Is Witopia fail safe? I haven't had any problems with the proxy settings for slingbox. Doubles the speed. Its actually routed through Europe.

[namoo]

Witopia is fail safe.

[MJo]

What about program schedules. I guess you need to watch them in US schedule. Meaning prime time shows are on early morning here on Thailand ?

[Cromarty]

4000 baht a month

and it relies on Thailands weakest link to the west, the Internet.

I'm getting into the slingbox business!!

[ChiangMaiThai]

What about program schedules. I guess you need to watch them in US schedule. Meaning prime time shows are on early morning here on Thailand ?

Yes it is all live TV. But you can set it up to record whatever you want, up to 100 hours.

4000 baht a month ohmy.gif ohmy.gif and it relies on Thailands weakest link to the west, the Internet. I'm getting into the slingbox business!!

Most people who watch TV are already paying 2000 Baht a month for the crappy UBC service. So not a big jump to double that and have real movies and current shows, sports etc.

You'll want to run a few tests with your connection before you get it. I had a 900 baht a month 2mb connection shared with 50 people awhile back and tested it and it didn't work at all.

Edited May 17, 2009 by ChiangMaiThai

[RKASA]

I dropped UBC almost three years ago.  I would never re connect to that system.  There does not seem to be any legal systems that is any better.  4000 a month! I wish there was some real options.  As it is I just don't watch TV at all anymore.  I am part of a growing number of people that think that way.

edit forgot: I pay 2200 a month for 512k internet that is most often not. I am not real pleased at the idea of spending more.

Edited May 17, 2009 by RKASA

[namoo]

I pay 2200 a month for 512k internet that is most often not

daylight robbery for 512k connection.

[ChiangMaiThai]

I dropped UBC almost three years ago.  I would never re connect to that system.  There does not seem to be any legal systems that is any better.  4000 a month! I wish there was some real options.  As it is I just don't watch TV at all anymore.  I am part of a growing number of people that think that way.

edit forgot: I pay 2200 a month for 512k internet that is most often not. I am not real pleased at the idea of spending more.

It won't be to long before the fast Internet costs 1000 a month and the slingbox service is more like 2500. That, coupled with the introduction of a remote for the slingbox will mean the end of UBC.

I agree 2200 is way too much for 512k. I get 4mb shared with 10 people for 3,000 and its good enough for streaming TV etc.

[haybilly]

I pay 2200 a month for 512k internet that is most often not

daylight robbery for 512k connection.

My thoughts entirely--where are you having to pay that for 512K???

On the subject raised by the OP--there is no way on earth that I could justify paying 7000 bht for TV--it's really not that important--each to his own though; btw the OP maintains that 'most people are paying 2200 Bht /month for crap UBC'--well, this may have been true in the past but I think that the vast majority have already given up on UBC.

[MJo]

Everyone i know still has UBC. Farangs and Thais alike.

UBC will be around as i believe most of their customers are Thai that actually like UBC as they have Thai language in most channels and subtitles in others.

Their programs are ok as i only need the news, sport and History, Discovery and NGC. However the picture quality they push thru is crap. I have their cable and they very well could drop half of their channels and provide the remainder in normal quality.

[LivinLOS]

4000 baht a month ohmy.gif ohmy.gif and it relies on Thailands weakest link to the west, the Internet. I'm getting into the slingbox business!!

Most people who watch TV are already paying 2000 Baht a month for the crappy UBC service. So not a big jump to double that and have real movies and current shows, sports etc.

well I would think most people dont have platinum.. so its 7k v 1500..

Or you could have astro, multichoice, every UBC channel, etc for about 2500 per yeah :whistle:

[BigSnake]

Good for you. In my opinion UBC, True and many of the rest are just a pure waste of Baht. I had it for a while, the service, when you had a problem, more then likely you would the mile high run around, thank but no thank to these companies

[ChiangMaiThai]

Just to reiterate, I would pay 3,000 for Internet even if TV didn't exist. So for me its an extra 4,000 to have TV too. Obviously not for everyone, but it will appeal to some people. Many have already PM'd me so they can get set up

[RKASA]

I pay 2200 a month for 512k internet that is most often not

daylight robbery for 512k connection.

Yes no phone lines yet alone adsl.  IpStar is only option.  2200 for 512 is a better then in the past deal here.  saved 300 a month starting last month.  I can only dream about things like the 2mb adsl in town for 700 a month.  Hate seeing that sign above the counter ever time I pay the bill. 

[Plus]

If there was a competition for the most expensive and least convenient Internet entertainment setup in Thailand this Slingbox could easily take the first price.

Since it's live, all prime time TV is shifted by twelve hours and you need to program it in the evening so that it would record what you want the next day, so you constantly need to keep track of dates, times and channels, and never miss a thing.

Why not just download all that stuff like everybody else? If you don't like it for free, you can always sign up for usenet or private trackers, AND you can have all your shows in High Definition, too, AND you don't need to pay even 3,000 baht a month for the Internet package, 590B for 2.5 mbps from True is completely adequate since you don't need to stream anything in real life, and you can get 1,800B UBC Gold for sports and news and Thai subtitles or dubbed cartoons for the family.

[shiny]

why not use some P2P TV Live software via internet,

any program, TV series or movies are free then

[ChiangMaiThai]

If there was a competition for the most expensive and least convenient Internet entertainment setup in Thailand this Slingbox could easily take the first price.

Since it's live, all prime time TV is shifted by twelve hours and you need to program it in the evening so that it would record what you want the next day, so you constantly need to keep track of dates, times and channels, and never miss a thing.

Why not just download all that stuff like everybody else? If you don't like it for free, you can always sign up for usenet or private trackers, AND you can have all your shows in High Definition, too, AND you don't need to pay even 3,000 baht a month for the Internet package, 590B for 2.5 mbps from True is completely adequate since you don't need to stream anything in real life, and you can get 1,800B UBC Gold for sports and news and Thai subtitles or dubbed cartoons for the family.

Sure, it is not for everyone and there are lots of other ways to be entertained, but myself and the dozen people who have PM'd me all think that there is something kind of cool about being able to watch live American TV over here (including a lot of sports that you simply can't get on the Internet or on UBC).

You can program it to record weeks ahead of time. You don't need to always be looking at tomorrow's schedule. Most of the sports will be at convenient morning times here, which works for a lot of us who don't have fixed working hours or who work from home.

Once it is set up it requires that you turn on your TV, double click the icon on your TV and then lay back with your wireless mouse. There is about a 2 second delay when changing channels. Once they make a proper remote for this thing and the price comes down by about 50%, it will be the end of TV as we know it.

Watching TV beamed from another country is the first step. Eventually I think there will be Internet TV companies that allow you to select which channels or even which programs you would like to subscribe to. There will be thousands of channels on offer. It will all be beamed to your TV via the Internet and you'll have a remote just like your current TV remote to control it.

[Thaigreg]

why not use some P2P TV Live software via internet,

any program, TV series or movies are free then

Hi,

Shiny has is right! If you have a half way decent internet connection go to a P2P site like www.surfthechannel.com/ and download your favorite tv shows and movies. I just downloaded the final episodes of 24 and the latest episode of CSI Miami. No cost.

Greg

[nikster]

I use UBC only for live sports. Would love to have it in HD but I guess compared to the slingbox BHT 1500 for Gold seems pretty cheap.

[Plus]

Sure, it is not for everyone and there are lots of other ways to be entertained, but myself and the dozen people who have PM'd me all think that there is something kind of cool about being able to watch live American TV over here (including a lot of sports that you simply can't get on the Internet or on UBC).

The opportunity to watch American TV in Thailand will not kill UBC, and Thailand is ages away from working Internet television, and the rest of the world is not anywhere near yet, either.

As for the price - there's always a premium for special preferences. If you are willing to settle on popular shows and English football, then you can pay three times less. And you can have your shows and movies in glorious High Definition, too. But if you absolutely insist on clicking channels and watching live weather and celebrity reports from Alabama, you pay three times more.

[kudroz]

Just cancelled UBC, I had 2 access points in my house. Was paying TrueVision (UBC) around 4,000THB per month. I was only watching CNBC and Bloomberg really. It was time I canceled it.

I have contacted ChiangMaiThai's contact and he is setting me up tomorrow. Each of my TV are already hooked up to an Apple TV and a Mac Mini, so I'll install the Slingbox player on the Mac Mini to supplement Boxee (hulu, Joost, Netflix, etc). The Slingbox service also comes with a DVR and 100 hours of recording, you can record 1 or 2 shows at once. I'll program all the TV shows I'm following and it'll record automatically. I also have a Roku player that I use for Netflix.

Slingbox for me is convenient, don't have to torrent all of the shows I need to watch, but can just turn on the TV and use the Slingbox player to connect to DVR (DirectTV) in New York. For me the price is not an issue as you might have guessed.

Thanks or the tip!

Edited May 20, 2009 by kudroz